Home sweet Home

I adore Kirsty Allsop.

She is beautiful, well spoken, well mannered, just lovely. Tonight for the first time, I watched her "Home made home" programme. Is there no end to her talents? Mosaic making, cake decorating? Garden design? She is truly the domestic Goddess. Move over Nigella, you are merely a cook.

However, the programme is so misleading!!!! Either that or I am supremely cack handed. (Is that a real word?*) Knitting simple baby garments, yes. Making simple curtains, tops and skirts, no problem. Anyone following this blog, will know that I re-started knitting when I met hubby. I knitted briefly as a teen, when mohair sweaters were all the rage and out of my price range. But I am still knitting the same sweater that I begun for myself before I got married!!!! Anything bigger than age 2-3 just takes too long!!! (As my husband who asked for a Guernsey was sharply told!)

Anyone who knows me from my twenties, knows that I hand make patchwork quilts..... It takes about a year to complete one. Is it really cost effective, if you factor in even a minimum wage?

Lets move on to baking!!! How many blog posts are dedicated to the trials and errors of the yacht club baby cake and bread baker?? Today's batch of egg free cakes were fine (rose flavour and lavender flavour!! very girly). But the Saturday batch went bin ward quicker than you can say "cup cake!"

Lovely Kirsty is so talented!!! She makes it look so easy!! And all these things are supposed to save us money!!!! No way! If like me, you are an ordinary mortal, with a mere ounce of talent in the craft department, then you will waste a small fortune "practising" before you eventually get it right. Cheaper to buy it in the first place! Especially if you buy quality materials with which to make your things. Let's face it, if you are investing so much time and effort you do want quality fabric, or lovely wool. Some of baby's cardigans and sweaters have cost around £20 each for the yarn! (I do hope Daddy isn't reading this too closely!!) And I daren't even think about his odd, too big, but lovingly, hand knitted cashmere socks.

I will never, ever knit socks again!!! They were just too darn difficult for my liking, not to mention too time consuming. On announcing to hubby that I was knitting him socks he chirped "But why/ when M&S do perfectly good ones!" I agree now, but at the time it was a rather dumb labour of love, and I was determined to finish them at all costs- emotional, physical, financial. They are pretty useless and awful socks, but he is very sweet and wears them round the house and it makes us both laugh ....

Some one out there I know , will be saying," Ahh but the mistakes and quirks are what makes these things endearing and treasured" Well to you maybe. But if you are a slave driving perfectionist (Who me??) every tiny flaw will be an enormous, glaring error in your eyes and you will chuck the GD thing away and start again!!! Mistakes and quirks are what make children's home made goodies treasures! As an adult I expect my efforts to be PDP.

Time to mention the Tomatoes.

Ahh the "dig for victory /grow your own" experiment! Take 6 plants at 75p each and 2 grow bags (No idea what they cost but it was a few quid) Add a bottle of "Tomorite". Add to the mix a dose of "blight"...... apparently all of us keeny beanies who tried to "grow our own- rapidly becoming very expensive" Tomatoes this year in Newbury lost them...... So it wasn't just me being crap then! It was the dreaded blight.....

Pop to "Tesco" though and a vine load of Tomatoes will only cost you a quid anyway! I'm just not sure about this thrifty , make do and mend malarkey. I think that you need to be like Kirsty. Exceptionally talented. Yes ST, and like you too, how I admire Mrs T, she has such patience, neatness and makes things so beautifully that she could sell them! If anyone could afford to pay her for the time she puts in making them!

Though the cost was not really the point of growing the tomatoes. It was an attempt to be self sufficient, organic and also to get pleasure out of growing our own veg..... I got one miserable pea plant. Killed all the Spring Onions and lettuce (swiftly replaced the latter with a batch from Homebase, which have thrived nicely) There are two pumpkin plants hanging in there by a thread, which were given to us by the lovely LG who grew them from seed- fantastic! I doubt they will have pumpkins by Halloween but watch this space!! You can bet your bottom dollar Kirsty will have awesome Pumpkins!

* it is a real word!!! "Awkward; clumsy. Perhaps from Old Norse keikr, bent backwards; akin to Danish keite, ..."

Taking Candy from a baby

Oh no. I am loathsome. Mean. How could I?

I finally mastered the cupcake!!!!

The dairy and egg free cupcake recipe.

The delicious Alice Sherman ones.

Chocolate chip and butter icing. But not just any chocolate chip- dairy free chocolate chip with dairy free icing......(Cue M&S music)....

The one my baby actually ate.

And I scoffed the last one !

Naughty naughty mummy!!!!

And I wonder why I can't shift the baby weight?

Techno Queen

After pressing a few keys and sliding it up and down, trying unsuccessfully to locate the notch for the battery cover, (maybe the sim had slipped?) tapping it, trying to prize it apart, I took my mobile to the Orange Shop.

YCB "Er, I think I've broken my phone?"

OS "What happened?"

YCB "I dropped it"

OS "In water?"

YCB "No, (not this time, that was my old phone)"

OS "So you just dropped it?"

The young sales woman took the phone, looked at it, and looked sadly but gently at me. How I wished now I had taken their insurance!!!! Oh lord, I would have to pay, not just for this broken one, but for a new one! My heart started racing. What would hubby say? Palms start sweating....

"There you go" she said patiently, handing me my phone. "You just had to switch it back on."

Sheepish, dumb- blonde, nappy- brained mummy has left the building!

Do you want to play???

Lets play spot the bubbles?

6 that's right!

just one, did you find it?

Just one again! I think you will find 2

What just one?

A dozen or a baker's dozen?

Not quite 15, one of them is a knot in the tree!

Two , seriously!

Keep looking.....

Maths problem for GCE 1978.

If it takes one mummy 2 seconds to blow the bubbles, and it takes one mummy 4 seconds to shoot the photo, and these mummies took all afternoon to take 8 photos, how many photos were duds? and how long did each photo really take?

Math problem Stage 4 SATS 2009

Two mummies are taking photos of bubbles. How many mummies were there?

(For A* students: Below is a picture of a bubble colour it in)

Roaming Gnoming

Holy Pixies, Elves, & Fairies!

We are the proud adoptive parents of a wee garden Gnome! The White Stuff (Clothing store) are having an "Adopt a Gnome"! We have gnamed our gnome Octavius, (Snow white had 7 then along came ours?) I'm sure locally he will be known by the vernacular "Tav the chav".

For £5 or £10 you too could be a Gnome Mummy or Daddy, assuming you see the fun in it too? The money raised goes to charity.

Official certificate of adoption.

The window models were so excited about sharing their living space with so many gnomes, they lost their heads!!

Gnome invasion.

After watching "Amelie" and the adventures of her father's globe trotting Gnome, after seeing Toca Rivera and his touring Gnomie, with Jason Mraz, who could fail to be enchanted by a Gnome?

So, ok, there are some creepy gnomes, and some scary gnomes, tacky gnomes, evil looking gnomes, some downright gruesome gnomes, but these little fellas are adorable! Look at their cute little faces!! (I'm sure they are princes who were bewitched by a wicked witch and turned to stone!!) Lets face it, last night was a magical night! Perhaps during meteor showers they come to life, live for a night of fun (Well they are all smiling!!) and turn back to stone??

They are by Gno means just tacky garden kitsch. (Oh yes they are!) They are delightful! fun, naughty (I'm sure) and well, look at them? Irresistible. Objet d'art du jardin perhaps? I jest. I fully intend to lead my son to believe there are fairies in the bottom of the garden, so why not have a resident gnome too? I can barely wait till October when we can bring him home!!!!

We may have missed the meteor shower last night, due to too much cloud cover and light pollution, despite having deck chairs at the ready! But it is nice to know that a falling star must have been wished on somewhere, by somebody.

Its raining stars!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look to the skies tonight: Annual Perseid meteor shower peaks

Posted: August 11, 2009, 5:19 PM by Scott Maniquet

Weather-permitting, tonight and tomorrow night should offer a great chance to see some celestial activity as the annual Perseid meteor shower hits its peak.

The Perseid shower happens when the Earth passes through debris left from the Swift-Tuttle comet which last came this way in 1992.

You can follow meteor sightings on Twitter at #perseid or #meteorwatch.NASA offers some advice for the best viewing. For aspiring amateur astronomers, cnet.com lists some useful websites to help you get started.

photo: A Perseid meteor streaks towards the horizon during the annual Persied meteor shower in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Aug. 12, 2008. (Doug Murray/Reuters)

I love Meteor showers!!!!!!!!

Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks August 12th, 2009

by Kevin Brown : last updated: June 18, 2009

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to the site RSS feed or Podcast channel. Thanks for visiting! Â Â Â Â

        Â

Every year in early August, we can observe the Perseid meteor shower (“the Perseids”). And it’s a fascinating sky event.

Here’s a beginners’ guide to what it is and how best to enjoy it. (Perhaps, impress your friends with these astronomy questions and answers!)

What are the Perseids and what is a meteor?

Every year in August, the Earth passes through rock and dust fragments left behind by the comet Swift-Tuttle, last time it came near the Sun. As these small particles collide with the Earth’s atmosphere, they burn-up, often creating a startling streak of light across the sky.

You can easily observe this and it can be a wonderous spectacle.

Why is it called the Perseid meteor shower?

The term “Perseid”, refers to the star constellation of Perseus.

View of Perseid meteor radiant point, above NE horizon after midnight

The meteors actually have nothing to do with the stars we see from Earth, as being part of Perseus. It just appears as though the meteors originate from Perseus.

In fact, the rock fragments are close to the Earth – that’s why they burn in our atmosphere.

They are very close, just a few hundred miles – not many, many light years distant like the stars.

But, if you trace-back the bright trails of meteors we see, they appear to originate from the stars of Perseus.

When can you see them?

The Perseid meteor shower actually starts in late July and runs to late August. However, the best time to view is around the peak.

It’s not precise, but the 2009 peak is expected on August 12th at around 15.00 hours UT. There is some uncertainty, so it’s very worthwhile to observe either side of this.

In particular for European observers, the hours of darkness either side the peak hours, may well prove more fruitful! So try the previous Tuesday night, as well as the night of Wednesday 12th.

And there is also a potentially prominent Moon to contend with. It will not set below the horizon until the early hours of the morning.

What equipment do you need to observe the meteor shower?

The good news is none! Just use your eyes.

It will help your observation if you give your eyes some time (say 15 minutes), to become adapted to the darkness.

Binoculars my also help, but on the other hand, they may restrict your view to a small part of the sky.

The meteors originate in the region of Perseus, but they may appear in view just about anywhere in the sky. Although, if you were to track-back their trails, you would get to Perseus.

Can they be measured, at all?

Yes. Keen astronomers count how many appear in a fixed period of time, in a certain area of the sky. This is expressed as a Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR).

We may expect around 100 streaks of meteor light across the sky per hour, at or near the shower peak.

Do watch out for them on Wednesday 12th August and during hours of darkness, before and after.

Many thanks to both these authors.By pasting their pages here I hope I can help them share their Meteoric news. I am not plagiarising or stealing.

The Great Escape.

My baby son is an escapologist.

So far in one week, he has figured out how to get out of the seat belt on the car seat.....

How to climb out of the cot.....

How to open the car door from inside.

He only just figured out how to walk a fortnight ago!!!

The gates in the garden have to be locked as he has figured out how to open the gates! And can reach!!

There is a trail of sand across the lawn.....

Currently he is asleep , no doubt dreaming up the next great escape?

All the spades are hidden, locked in the garage....

I'm googling barbed wire fencing and search lights...... doo doo, doo di doo doo dahdah di dahdah di dum....